So folks, I got scammed...
So I'm trying to look for an apartment and sending out "I'm interested" emails through sites like apartments, trulia, and zillow. A few get back to me but after checkin a couple out the areas are sketchy or too busy or just not taken care of. So one day I get an email from a guy renting out his apartment. It was one of the ones I had sent a message to on apartments.com so I followed up with asking questions and getting information. The guy seemed trustyworthy so I went ahead with agreeing with following the next steps. After thinking about it now, I notice the amount of red flags I ignored in hopes of finding a place. What a fool I was. We send a few emails back and forth and he did a good job at building the trust and sounding believable, but that also should've been a red flag, he was too good at it and trying too hard. Anyways, so we agree to pay and receive the contract and keys to visit the apartment (the owner was out of country and using a 3rd party FlipKey, to rent out his place while he was gone) and asked for payment to ship everything over. Like the fool I was, I excitedly agreed. The next red flag was the FlipKey "representative" wanted me to send money orders to two different departments for rent and for the damage deposit. Again, I was too hopeful and ignored this red flag, and rationalized it since other apartments we had checked out had also asked for money orders or cash for the first month payment and obviously we can't give cash so money order made sense that way. So the next morning the shipping was confirmed but then stopped. I got an email saying that their policy has updated and an additional $1,000 was required for increased damage coverage due to recent events of tenants damaging properties. This was the red flag that finally got me. When I questioned the FlipKey "representative" and the "owner" about it, both disappeared and wouldn't respond anymore. So, if you ever get an email while looking for a place to rent out a place, never pay in money order unless you know exactly who you're paying. Also, don't have blind hope like I did. Research research research. Make calls, talk to actual people, and don't pay anything without getting anything immediately.
Oh, also I don't think it had anything to do with the actual FlipKey website, they just pretended to be them. The email address used was:
Stay safe friends.
